A false gospel rooted in Marxism has gained massive popularity, placing increasing pressure on Christians. We sense this pressure in the rise of cancel culture, where Christians are being censored, fired, or arrested for upholding their biblical beliefs. We feel it in the prevalence of “woke” messages that label Christians as oppressors who must be silenced. We notice it in contemporary attacks on the family unit God designed. On every side, our culture’s open hostility toward anyone who dares to stand on truth is becoming unmistakable. Less obvious, perhaps, are the ways these cultural trends connect to the false gospel of Marxism.
This false gospel repackages the core beliefs of nineteenth-century philosopher Karl Marx, who viewed history as the story of conflict between oppressor and oppressed classes. Instead of recognizing sin as the core problem behind suffering, oppression, and alienation, Marx viewed certain socioeconomic conditions as the problem. The solution, he thought, was revolution: oppressed workers needed to revolt against wealthy business owners, take over the means of producing consumer goods, and establish a communist society.
When this revolution did not unfold the way Marx predicted, “Neo-Marxists” expanded on Marx’s ideas. Like Marx, Neo-Marxists believe that society consists of oppressors and the oppressed who must take power from their oppressors. While Marx labeled the wealthy as oppressors, Neo-Marxists extend this label to other social groups including Christians, males, light-skinned people, heterosexuals, able-bodied people, and individuals born in “colonialist” countries. Neo-Marxism prejudges people as oppressors based not on personal character, actions, or attitudes, but on group identity traits including gender, income, and skin tone. Any means of disempowering people who possess these traits can count, in Neo-Marxist thinking, as “social justice.”
Because Neo-Marxism hijacks, redefines, and repurposes biblical terms like justice, certain Neo-Marxist messages have effectively infiltrated church circles. Christians need to understand how these messages rest on a false gospel. What are the main tenets of this false gospel, and how do they contradict God’s Word?
Seven Major Conflicts Between God’s Word and Marxism
Let’s begin by looking at several issues through the lens of a Biblical worldview:
- Human origins — God supernaturally created humans in his image (Genesis 1:26–27).
- Human nature — Humans are created (Genesis 2:7, 21–23; Psalm 100:3).
- Identity — Identity primarily defined by and rooted in Christ (Galatians 3:28).
- Human marriage and family — God ordained marriage between a husband and wife as part of his very good design for creation and as the basis for raising and discipling children. The family is the foundational unit of society (Deuteronomy 6:7; Matthew 19:4–5).
- Humanity’s core problem — The problem comes down to sin (Genesis 2:17 and 3:1–24; Romans 5:12).
- Guilt — Guilt is based on sin against God. All people are guilty by nature before God, apart from Christ (Psalm 53:3; Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:10).
- Humanity’s hope of redemption — Salvation is found only in Jesus (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9).
- Truth — Truth is objective. God is the source of and authority for truth (John 14:6, 17:17).
- Morality — The standard and foundation for morality is God’s character. Morals can be known through God’s Word and God’s law written on our consciousness (Psalm 119:68; Romans 2:15).
Now let’s look at these same issues through the lens of a Marxist (or Neo-Marxist) View:
- Human origins — Humans arose through natural processes.
- Human nature — Humans are primarily creators.
- Identity — Identity primarily defined by and rooted in certain traits (gender, income, skin tone, etc.).
- Human marriage and family — Marriage and family are pillars of an oppressive social system and need to be redefined, manipulated, or abolished.
- Humanity’s core problem — The problem comes down to economic or cultural conditions.
- Guilt — Guilt is based on identity. People with “oppressor” identities are automatically guilty and cannot help being evil; people with “oppressed” identities are automatically innocent and can do no evil.
- Humanity’s hope of redemption — Salvation is found only through continual revolution.
- Truth — Truth is subjective. The feelings and lived experience of the oppressed are the authority for truth.
- Morality — The standard for morality is whatever tilts the power balance in favor of the oppressed.
Be encouraged: as the pressure against Christians increases, God’s Word gives us answers to stand on his truth rather than compromise with false teaching.
Colossians 2:8 states, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
